LAS VEGAS, NEV. (July 12, 2012) – Who really deserves to wear the World Middleweight Champion’s crown? Undefeated World Boxing Council (WBC) middleweight champion and the Son of the Legend, JULIO CÉSAR CHÁVEZ JR., and SERGIO MARTINEZ, the two-division world champion with matinee idol looks, will settle that question in their long-awaited middleweight battle, Saturday, September 15 – Méxican Independence Day weekend – at the Thomas & Mack Center, located on the campus of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The Chávez Jr. vs. Martinez World Middleweight Championship event will be produced and distributed Live by HBO Pay-Per-View, beginning at 9:00 p.m. ET / 6:00 p.m. PT.

Promoted by Top Rank, Zanfer Promotions and DiBella Entertainment, in association with Wynn Las Vegas, AT&T and Tecate, tickets to the Chávez Jr. vs. Martinez World Middleweight Championship Event will go on sale Today!Thursday, July 12 at

3:00 p.m. ET / Noon PT. Priced at $600, $400, $200, $100, $75, $50 and $25, they can be purchased at the Thomas & Mack Center box office and Town Square Las Vegas Concierge. Tickets can also be purchased online at www.unlvtickets.com. To charge by telephone call (702) 739-FANS.

Chávez Jr. (46-0-1, 32 KOs), of Culiacán, México, making his first appearance in Las Vegas since 2009, is the son of Mexico’s greatest fighter Julio César Chávez. Chávez, 26, took up the “family business” in 2003, winning a four-round decision in his professional debut.Eight years later, the reigning World Middleweight Champion and superior gate attraction is poised to make his own mark in the boxing world. He took a major step toward that goal by enlisting legendary trainer Freddie Roach to take him to the next level.Their first fight together was a gigantic success, a dominant 12-round unanimous decision victory over top-10 contender John Duddy (29-1, 18 KOs) in June 2010 at the Alamodome in San Antonio. After his January 29, 2011 unanimous decision win over Billy Lyell, Chávez Jr. became the second family member to win a world title, dethroning undefeated World Boxing Council (WBC) middleweight champion Sebastian Zbik via a majority decision. That June 4, 2011 slugfest took place at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles just a few blocks north of the Olympic Auditorium where the legendary Julio César Chávez won his first world title. Chávez Jr. has successfully defended his title with a fifth-round knockout of Top-Five contender Peter Manfredo, Jr., November 19, 2011, followed by a hard-fought unanimous decision on February 4 over No. 1 contender Marco Antonio Rubio. He enters this fight fresh from one his biggest victories, a seventh-round knockout of No. 2-rated contender Andy Lee on June 16.

Martinez (49-2-2, 28 KOs), of Quilmes, Buenos Aires, Argentina, and a consensus Top-Three pound-for-pound fighter, will be making his first appearance in a Las Vegas ring since 2000. He first made his presence known to the boxing world in 2007 by knocking out Saul Roman in the fourth round of their WBC super welterweight title elimination bout. One year later, Martinez captured the WBC interim super welterweight title with an eighth-round stoppage of Alex Bunema. He was elevated to WBC world super welterweight champion in the latter half of 2009. Martinez captured his second world title in as many divisions, in 2010, moving up in weight to challenge and upset defending middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik. Martinez enters this fight riding a two-year, five-bout winning streak, including knockout victories of Paul Williams, Sergiy Dzinziruk, and Darren Baker. In his last fight, on St. Patricks’ Day at Madison Square Garden, Martinez stopped Matthew Macklin in the 11th round.

The Chávez Jr. vs. Martinez world championship telecast, which begins at 9:00 p.m. ET / 6:00 p.m. PT, will be produced and distributed live by HBO Pay-Per-View and will be available to more than 92 million pay-per-view homes. HBO Pay-Per-View, a division of Home Box Office, Inc., is the leading supplier of event programming to the pay-per-view industry. Follow HBO Boxing news at www.hbo.com and at www.facebook.com/hboboxing. Use the hashtag #ChavezMartinez to join the conversation on Twitter. For Chávez Jr. vs. Martinez updates log on to www.toprank.com, www.dbe1.com or www.hbo.com.